[darmanastartes]

Small update to my N3 review: I realized I had done the EQ'd measurements with gazpl's original settings and not the more drastic cuts I had done my EQ'd listening with.

 

[ufospls2]

Hey Guys,

I just received the T3’s in, courtesy of @antdroid to do some listening, so thank so much to him for giving me this chance to hear them. I wanted to post with my really initial impressions of the T3, and do some quick comparisons to the T2, and the Hifiman RE2000, which are the other IEMs I have present. After a week or so of listening, I’ll write up a proper full post and review of the T3 with longer comparisons.

OK, lets get the physical stuff out the way. The T3’s come in a similar box to the T2’s, its just bigger. Instead of one pair of blue foam tips, there are two pairs grey foams in what looks like small and medium sizes. The cable is a nice braided piece, and for all I prefer the silver-ish colour of the T2’s cable vs the yellow/clear of the T3’s cable, the T3’s cable is much better. It is thicker, more substantial, and feels more supple. The T3’s come with what looks like spinfit knock offs in S/M/L, and maaaayyybe final E knock off tips in S/M/L. The T3 look very similar to the T2’s minus a couple small design tweaks. I always wore my T2’s reversed, so the T3’s fit exactly the same way in their stock configuration. The T3 is very similar in terms of fit to the Campfire Audio Vega.

All listening was done with Spinfit tips

Without doing any reading of graphs or comparisons to the T2 or RE2000, the T3 strike me as a pretty neutral sounding IEM with a little bit of a treble emphasis. For my personal preferences, they are a bit light in terms of bass. I’m not going to play around with EQ yet, as I want to give them a go in their stock tuning, same goes for any T2 or RE2000 comparisons to follow. The mids are….ok? They aren’t spectacular in anyway, just sort of there doing their job. Interesting. As I mentioned before the treble is on the emphasised side of things. I’m getting a bit sibilance on vocals, both male and female, so far. Hi hats have this “CH CH CH” that’s a bit grating on the ears, but not too bad. From everything I have read, the T2 Pro had even more treble emphasis than the T2 or T3 so…What. Not going to be buying a T2 Pro any time soon.

Soundstage on the T3 is ok. It’s not amazing, and it’s not very closed in sounding. However in relation to other IEMs I have heard in recent memory, the soundstage is pretty small. Detail retrieval is mediocre as well, but I have definitely heard worse.

T2 Comparison: Ok so in terms of sonic comparisons I am confused. Really confused. So confused that I went searching for measurements, which is unlike me. The T2 and T3 measure pretty much exactly the same in terms of bass, but I am hearing the T2 as being way more emphasised. Like…at least 6db more emphasised. I wondered if maybe the way I was wearing the T2 was covering the vent and boosting the bass, but the vent is in the same place as the T3 so you would think it would happen with both pairs. I don’t have any EQ or DSP running. Its really weird. So yeah, for my ears, the T2 has a lot more bass. It thumps way more. I think this is messing up my ability to compare the two in relation to other reviewers, who seem to be hearing the bass as very similar between the two. The T3 seems to be a bit more detailed than T2, for what it is worth. Until I can figure out this bass issue, I prefer the T2. I think once I get into playing with EQ I will prefer the T3, as I will be able to bump the bass a little bit, making it more inline with my preferences.

RE2000 comparison: These two are quite different. The RE2000 has a much more pleasing tone for my ears. A little bit more bass than the T3, but not as much as the T2, which again, is weird. The RE2000 definitely brings more detail to the table, and has improved technicalities. I suppose comparing a $60USD IEM to an $800USD IEM isn’t particularly fair, but I think the T2/T3 are good enough that they warrant comparison to more TOTL type IEMs.

At this point in time I prefer the T2’s tonal balance. Once I start experimenting with EQ and bumping the bass a few DB on the T3, I think I will prefer the T3 as it has superior technicalities and detail retrieval compared to the T2, in my opinion. The bass level discrepancy is weird. I’m going to keep experimenting

EDIT: Reporting back after EQ experimentation to get the T3's bass up to what I'm hearing with my T2's. They are now much more inline with my preferences in terms of fullness on the low end. I really like what I'm hearing now.

I'm still trying to figure out why my T2's are giving me much more bass than the T3's. With a bit of a bass boost, for my ears, The T3's are the better earphone. However, if you already have the T2's, are they worth the $69USD? I'm not sure. They might not be. I will report back after further listening.

 

[Slater]

feel the nuclear power

I think they were trying to say 'explosive', but you know how Chinglish is.

Speaking of Chinglish, check out this classic from KZ haha:



I have absolutely no idea what on earth they were trying to say. It's like they opened a dictionary to totally random pages (multiple times), and wrote whatever the 19th word was on each page.

 

[antdroid]

I think they were trying to say 'explosive', but you know how Chinglish is.

Speaking of Chinglish, check out this classic from KZ haha:



I have absolutely no idea what on earth they were trying to say. It's like they opened a dictionary to totally random pages (multiple times), and wrote whatever the 19th word was on each page.

all your base are belong to us.

 

[Slater]

all your base are belong to us.

Hopefully you can't get arrested for breaking whatever this gibberish rule is referring to, because I wouldn't even know whether I was Piease-ing on the Fiotic or not!

 

[crabdog]

These look so much better IRL than in the pictures!

Spoiler: FR

 

[Slater]

These look so much better IRL than in the pictures!

Spoiler: FR

Please tell me that whole IEM body is solid copper (like the ED9)! It sure looks like it.

Update: This is interesting...perhaps an old model but in a fancy new shell?

RX8:
1DD+1BA
Composite diaphragm+high midrange BA
Earphone sensitivity: 105dB/mW
Frequency range: 7-40000Hz



QT5:
1DD+1BA
Composite diaphragm+high midrange BA
Earphone sensitivity: 105dB/mW
Frequency range: 7-40000Hz

 

[crabdog]

Please tell me that whole IEM body is solid copper (like the ED9)!

It sure looks like it.

Yep, except for the nozzles which believe it or not are translucent plastic!

 

[ScottPilgrim]

tidal is my main music player for both pc and my phone lg v30. is there any way i can eq on tidal ? maybe an app or software.

Usb audio player pro but you wont have bit perfect audio. I suppose you didnt anyway because you were already listening to the stock app.

 

[aaDee]

Can anyone suggest decent sleeping earphones?

 

[Cevisi]

Can anyone suggest decent sleeping earphones?

Advanced sleeper is made for it 20-30 dollars

But i think shure 215 and sennheiser ie 40 pro will do it too

 

[HungryPanda]

Brainwavz B100, B200

 

[Makahl]

delete

 

[Slater]

Can anyone suggest decent sleeping earphones?

Ever consider something totally wireless?

No wires to get tangled.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/going-fully-wireless-iems-too-soon-or-are-we-there-yet.861024/

 

[kadas152]

Was listening to N3 whole day and listening to ZS6.

ZS6 has more bass punch and quantity. Especially midbass. Subbass extension seems similar to N3.
Mids are warmer and bit fuller than N3.
Treble is less extended and less detailed, but also less metallic. ZS6 is very sibilant and can me quite harsh to my ears. No sibilance heard with N3.
Neither of these sounds completely natural but I like N3 more for its details.

Will make FR graph comparison later today or tomorrow.

Made FR comparison for @TechnoidFR today.
ZS6 in green
N3 blue